


Letters We Never Sent

by Whilhelmina_Prince



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Letters, M/M, Mutual Pining, Tropetastic Tuesday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 17:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10858698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whilhelmina_Prince/pseuds/Whilhelmina_Prince
Summary: Rhett and Link spent years pining for each other





	Letters We Never Sent

**Author's Note:**

> For Tropetastic Tuesday 9: Mutual Pining

1992

Dear Link,

You fell asleep in the middle of the movie. I felt something hit my shoulder, and it was your head. I was going to be mad at you for falling asleep. I almost pushed you off me. But I didn’t. I don’t know why. I looked at your face, and you looked so peaceful. Like my shoulder was the softest pillow you’d ever slept on. And I … I kinda liked that. 

I stayed like that as long as I could. I listened to you snore. I watched your lips as you mumbled in your sleep. 

I think you said my name once. 

Do you want to sleep over again next week? We can try to watch the movie again. And if you fall asleep … that’s okay, too.

Rhett

P.S. I promise I won’t tell anyone at school.

 

\-----------------------------------

 

1996

Dear Rhett,

I can’t believe your dad wouldn’t let me stay over tonight. I know you have an important game tomorrow, but he never kept me from staying over before.

I guess it’s okay. I’ll see you after the game.

But the thing is … I’m sitting here in my room alone, and I miss you. Not just miss you, but really, really, miss you. I miss you being here next to me. I miss the way I can make you laugh with a stupid joke. I miss the light in your eyes when you smile at me.

You know how in the morning, you sometimes wake up and I’ve rolled over in my sleep and thrown an arm over you? What you don’t know is that sometimes, I wake up before you. I find your face close to mine, your breath tickling my nose. I can feel the heat coming off your body. I can hear your heartbeat. 

And I know I should move.

But I don’t. I stay there and pretend to sleep until you wake up and push me away. 

Please don’t hate me, Rhett. 

Link

 

\-------------------------------------

 

1999

Dear Link,

I’m in the airport waiting to get on the plane. I can’t believe I’m going to spend the whole semester away from you. We’ve never been apart that long.

Part of me is regretting my decision to go. Or wishing you could have gone, too.

Maybe some distance will be good for me. For us. Maybe I’ll stop thinking about you sleeping right above me, wondering if you’re dreaming about me. Maybe I’ll stop being jealous every time you go out with Christy. Maybe I’ll fall in love with some pretty Slovakian girl.

But I doubt it. I doubt all of it.

The thing is, I didn’t know until college that this was even possible. I thought it was just because we spend so much time together. Or that I was just messed up in the head. But it is possible. Maybe just not in Buies Creek. 

But it’s probably too late for that, isn’t it?

Don’t forget about me while I’m gone.

Love,   
Rhett

 

\------------------------------------

 

2000

Dear Rhett,

It’s three o’clock in the morning. I’ve been a married man for 12 hours now. And that means I’m not a virgin anymore. 

Is it weird that afterward, all I wanted to do was call you and tell you all about it? 

Not that there’s much to tell. Don’t get me wrong; it was good. A little awkward, but good. And I love her. I really do. She’s an amazing woman.

But I couldn’t fall asleep next to her. I tried. I really did. But her breath sounds are too high-pitched. Her hair is everywhere, and it keeps tickling my face. I don’t know where to put my arms to hold her.

Mostly, though, she’s just not you.

I’m a terrible person. What kind of husband sits around on his wedding night thinking about another man? I’m going to hell.

I do love her, though. I swear I do.

But I think … I love you, too.

Link

 

\-------------------------

2003

Dear Link,

I thought by now I’d be over it. We’re both married, and hell, you have a kid now. She’s beautiful, by the way.

But not seeing you every day is killing me. 

My job is the dullest thing I could ever imagine. Maybe if you were here it would be okay. At least you’d laugh at my jokes. Most of these guys have the sense of humor of a rock. 

And home? I don’t know, Link. I love Jessie. I swear I do. But … there’s just something missing. That thing I found when I met you back in first grade? That thing that made me whole?

I don’t feel it with her.

I just miss you, man. In a way I shouldn’t. 

I just hope this isn’t all there is to life. I can’t go back to that job every day until I’m 65. I can’t only see you every other weekend. It’s like half of my heart has been ripped out.

Always,   
Rhett

 

\-----------------------------------

 

2007

Dear Rhett,

I can’t believe we’re finally doing this. This is it, man. This is the dream. This is how we fulfill the oath. It’s just you and me and a camera, and somehow, we’re going to make this work.

I can’t tell you how much I love the fact that I get to drive to your house and pick you up every morning. Even if all I got was those ten minutes in the car every day, with you telling me all about how we’re going to survive the apocalypse or about some crazy article you read about real-life zombies, it would be enough.

But I get so much more than that. 

You know what I really love? Every so often, you come over to my desk and lean over my shoulder to see what I’m working on. You put your hand on my shoulder, and it’s so big and so warm. And then you lean in closer and I can feel your breath on my neck. And you just stay there while you read.

And if you like what you see, you pat my shoulder and say “nice work” or “good job, brother” and you ruffle my hair as you walk away.

Those are the moments I live for.

Those are the moments that are killing me.

Love,  
Link

\-----------------------------

 

2011

Dear Link,

When you suggested that we all get one big house together, even just temporarily, I wanted so badly to say yes. 

But I don’t think I could handle it, Link. I don’t think I could handle going to sleep knowing you were in the next room with Christy. Knowing you might be making love to her. I couldn’t stand it.

All those times I pulled the “I’m dead” move back in college? I did it because I wanted to be close to you. I wanted to touch you. And that one time? You know which time I mean. God, Link, I wanted so much more. But I couldn’t. You would never have forgiven me. 

I wish I could tell you all this. The look on your face when I said Jessie and I wanted our own place almost killed me. I felt like I was breaking your heart in two. 

But it’s not because I don’t want to be close to you, Link. It’s because I do want to be close to you that I had to say no. You have to know that. Somewhere, deep down, you have to know that.

Always,  
Rhett

 

\----------------------------

 

2013

 

Dear Rhett,

I’m so lost right now, Rhett. So confused. I know it was just part of the sketch, part of the joke. I know it wasn’t real. Our lips didn’t even touch.

But it felt real. It felt real to me, and I think, I hope, maybe it did for you, too. 

I can’t imagine what I looked like. I’m afraid to watch it back. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking. The look on my face … I don’t want to imagine it.

Rhett, if that’s the closest I ever get to kissing you, I don’t think I can stand it. I need to know what that feels like. I need to feel your arms around me. Your hands on my waist. Your lips on mine. 

How do we go on from here? 

I can’t go back. I can’t deny this anymore. I’m hopelessly in love with you, Rhett. 

I feel like I’m drowning. Can you rescue me?

Love,  
Link

 

\-----------------------------------

 

2016

 

Dear Link,

Last night was the happiest night of my life. 

I wish I knew what gave you the courage. Was it the beer? The mountain air? Or maybe it was just being here, just the two of us, away from everything that’s gotten in the way all these years. 

Whatever is was, all I know is that falling asleep with you in my arms and your kiss still tingling on my lips was the best thing that ever happened to me. 

I pray you still feel the same in the morning.

Love always,   
Rhett


End file.
